Scot Gemmill praises 'intelligent' approach from Scotland Under-21s, despite draw

Scot Gemmill (far left) watched his side held to a 1-1 draw against 10-man Latvia

Scotland Under-21s coach Scot Gemmill praised his players for not abandoning their style of play in their draw against a 10-man Latvia side.

The visitors had Ingars Stuglis sent off after Roberts Uldrikis had put them ahead at McDiarmid Park in the European Championship qualifier.

The Scots eventually levelled through Ryan Hardie's late penalty.

• Match report: Scotland U21 1-1 Latvia U21

"That was really pleasing to see how the players reacted to that," said Gemmill of the second-half dismissal.

"They still played with a purpose and an intelligence. It wasn't just getting the ball forward. We were still playing football. The shape of the team was still correct.

"It was a real big moment to get the goal at the end after creating so many chances throughout the game. I think we had over 20 attempts on goal.

"There was a lot of really good performances in that game.

Hardie scored his first goal of the qualification campaign

"You could see the way [Ryan Hardie] grabbed the ball and wanted to take it. He's done that for us before at younger age levels. He did it in Toulon in the summer - really big penalty kick. It shows the confidence that he's got, the belief that he's got but anybody who knows Ryan wouldn't be surprised by that.

"It is, as we all know, sometimes very difficult to break 10 men down when they're being so defensive so our players showed a real high level of intelligence to keep playing in the right way."

Hearts defender John Souttar went off with a head injury in Perth.

"John asked to come off," Gemmill explained. "We have a duty to obviously protect him in that way so as soon as he indicated that he needed to come off."

Gemmill's side face Ukraine back at St Johnstone's ground on Tuesday, with the Scots third in Group 4 - a point behind Netherlands and six points off leaders England.

"It's great that we play again," Gemmill added. "The players are determined to do well, playing throughout the scheduled games that we've got to play in.

"We're really looking forward to it and we've got to obviously prepare properly and be ready to go again."